Melissa Hale-Spencer loves taking her dog on miles-long walks at the foot of the Helderberg escarpment where she lives. The longtime editor of The Altamont Enterprise, Hale-Spencer has, for the 10th time, been recognized among the best opinion writers in the weekly press. The Golden Dozen awards were announced recently by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. In the society’s annual contest, opinion writers are judged for their editorial skills and courage, with the best of the top dozen winning the Golden Quill award. Hale-Spencer learned to write from her father, a lifelong newspaperman. She took her first reporting job when her parents called on her to help at their Adirondack weekly, The Lake Placid News, in 1975, where her future husband, Gary Spencer, also began a career in journalism. Hale-Spencer started writing for The Enterprise as a young mother of two daughters in the 1980s. In this week’s podcast, she talks to co-publisher Marcello Iaia about the joys and challenges of being a weekly newspaper editor.

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